Chicago Criminal Lawyer Blog

On June 19 of this year, a Carbondale, IL man was convicted of domestic battery. The convicted man is currently awaiting sentencing, where he may face up to six years in the Illinois Department of Corrections. Though traditionally a misdemeanor with a maximum penalty of one year in jail, in the case of the above…

Prison time. Huge fines. Stringent probation. These are just a handful of the penalties you may face if you are convicted of a felony in Chicago. But after prison and probation sentences have been served and fines have been paid off, a felony conviction may still follow you for the rest of your life. How?…

You’ve been charged with assault and battery. But is that one crime or two? Though often lumped together, assault and battery are two distinct types of criminal offenses in Illinois. The primary distinction between the two crimes is that while battery typically involves bodily harm, assault charges may occur even if you only engage in…

The Chicago Public School system has recently come under scrutiny after a joint investigation revealed a string of employee thefts. The investigation found that a Chicago Public School operations employee and four accomplices may have stolen over $870,000 from two public high schools during the years 2009 through 2014. According to reports, the five men…

Two separate marijuana-related incidents highlight Chicago police officers’ haste to make drug crime arrests—often at the expense of civil rights. The two reported incidents, four years apart, demonstrate how officers may hold suspects of drug offenses for hours in an attempt to force them to confess or incriminate others. In both the 2010 and 2014…

As Americans across the country were celebrating the start of summer Memorial Day weekend, violent shootings erupted in Baltimore, New York, and Chicago. While New York witnessed 16 shootings and Baltimore reported 32 separate gun violence incidents, “the most shocking Memorial Day gun violence was recorded in Chicago,” according to reporters from America Magazine. This…

For Chicago Bears defensive end Ray McDonald, jail time and fines may be the least of the consequences he faces for his domestic violence charge. The pro football player was arrested last month on domestic violence charges after allegedly physically assaulting a victim while she was holding a baby, according to CNN. Following his arrest,…

DUI checkpoints—sometimes referred to as sobriety checkpoints—are roadblocks set up by officers to stop vehicles to check for drunk drivers. DUI checkpoints are designed to achieve surprise, and are often set up in areas not visible to approaching traffic. Typically, vehicles are stopped in a specific sequence, such as every other vehicle, or every fourth…

This past March was a busy month for the Romeoville police force. Local police conducted a prostitution sting between March 20 and 27, arresting 20 men for soliciting a prostitute during the process. To attract solicitors, the police set up an advertisement for prostitution online. “We try to do this every couple years,” police Commander…

In Chicago, the punishments you face for violating the terms of your probation are often much worse than probation itself. Probation is a frequently used sentencing option in Illinois, where a judge orders a defendant who has been found guilty of a crime to follow a set of strict rules for a period of time.…